Jobless rate 5.17% in march, survey says

China's polled unemployment rate in March was 5.17 percent, slightly lower than in February, said Li Pumin, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, on Wednesday.

It was the first reference to the jobless rate since Premier Li Keqiang mentioned it in an article in the Financial Times in September.

Traditionally, the government publicizes the urban registered unemployment rate. That number has long been criticized as a biased and deflated one. It also has rarely changed, staying at about 4.1 percent since 2010.